The current study explores the impact of visual arts education on early childhood, highlighting its role in enhancing creativity, imagination, and emotional expression in pre-school children. It explores the perspectives of pre-school teachers on the importance of visual arts in children's development and the challenges they face when integrating…

This exploratory cross-sectional study aimed to identify whether specific sociodemographic and attitudinal characteristics could predict educators' comfort working with sexuality minority people and willingness to take action in their own school or classrooms to help children and sexuality and gender minority parents feel accepted and welcome. The…

Outdoor play comprises a highly significant play category through which children learn, develop, express themselves, socially and physically interact with their surroundings. Research, however demonstrates outdoor play is not substantially utilized within Greek preschool environments. This study was conducted during the 2019 academic year, aiming…

Drawing on kindergarten teachers' and University departments' reactions to the Greek government's initiative to adopt an integrated Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system, the present study aimed to explore how various ECEC professional groups working in the two main preschool programs operating in Greece define different aspects…

Research Findings: A growing number of stakeholders in early childhood education (ECE) rely on self-assessment to assess and improve the quality of ECE. In this systematic review, we investigated the reliability and validity of self-assessment in ECE, summarizing findings from 27 publications. We meta-analytically synthesized findings from 25…

This study explores the utility of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) as a population-based measure of school readiness in Crete, Greece, during times of economic austerity. It is unique in that no similar investigation examining school readiness for grade one has been conducted in this country. More specifically, it identifies kindergarten…

The research explores the implementation of the Mosaic Approach into a Greek early years' setting. For the data collection, 21 children were observed using cameras, tours, mapping, and researcher's interviews with teachers and parents. Special consideration was given to the newly added tool of peer-to-peer interviews. Results depicted children's…

Personal and social development is an important area which influences children's learning journey in all levels of education. Examining the impact of the arts on children's development, there are several studies that adopt this focus. However, the majority of them focus on either primary or secondary education or on specific personal and social…

In this article, we present the evaluation of a kindergarten teachers' professional development programme, 'Upgrading the quality of the pre-school environment' conducted by the participating teacher--thee programme is aimed at the improvement of the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care. The evaluation, which followed a mixed-method…

According to Montessori, children learn more effectively when they discover knowledge on their own, through spontaneous exploratory learning and experiential approach to knowledge, focusing primarily on trusting the child and respecting his exceptional capabilities and skills. The Montessori educational approach was implemented in a public…

This article presents findings from an ongoing international study of children's use of Internet-connected toys (IoToys) across Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Greece. The authors sought to investigate practices with IoToys across homes and early childhood settings. Data from 12 case study families and approximately 200 children who…

Children's everyday mathematics has been well evidenced by a growing body of research and is widely acknowledged as fundamental to meaningful learning in early childhood education. However, literature supports that drawing upon children's mathematical resources for further learning requires that the range of these resources is valued and noticed…

Preschool teachers play a significant role in nurturing the social and emotional development of young children. Moreover, their own social and emotional skills can influence how they instruct their pupils in emotional intelligence (EI). This study aimed to examine the individual dimensions of trait emotional intelligence (TEI) for preschool…

The scope of this study was to discriminate factors, which could improve students' social relationships in kindergarten classrooms. In this research, 147 volunteer children participated, 67 female students and 80 male students. Every student was between 4.5 and 5.5 years old and they were all attending urban public kindergarten located in central…

The purpose of this study examines the impact of an instructional strategy on kindergarten children's narrative skills. The strategy was based on Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) principles and was adapted for kindergarten children. The sample consisted of 85 children aged 5-6, attending six kindergarten classes in Crete, Greece. The…